Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (14/168)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

and it may be said: So long as there remains the possibility that this statement from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was based on a received ruling or was merely an assessment of value, the basic principle is that one is not bound by this specified amount unless it is established that it is legislation rather than an assessment of value. Even if we concede this, we may say: We apply what has been transmitted from the Commander of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with him, while judicially assessed compensation applies to the rest. The author explained it as follows:

“Any wounds and bone fractures other than these entail compensation assessed by judicial estimation. This consists of assessing the value of the injured person as though he were an uninjured slave, then assessing his value after the injury has healed. Whatever proportion of his value has been lost, he is entitled to the same proportion of the blood-money.”

His statement, “This consists of assessing the value of the injured person as though he were an uninjured slave, then assessing his value after the injury has healed. Whatever proportion of his value has been lost, he is entitled to the same proportion of the blood-money,” means by “assessing”: determining his value. The verbal noun of qawwama (to assess) is taqwīm (assessment). This clarifies a common error among people: they say taqyīm, deriving it from qīmah (value). It should be said to them: the original form of qīmah is qiwāmah, but the wāw was changed to a yāʾ for a morphological reason. Thus, the verbal noun of qawwama is taqwīm.

His statement, “uninjured,” means that he is sound; the preposition bi- here has the meaning of “in.”

His statement, “then assessing his value while it is present in him”: the wāw here indicates a circumstantial clause—that is, the injury is present in him—but with the condition expressed in the words, “after it has healed.” From this we know that the assessment is made only after recovery.

Does this assessment require that he be publicly offered for sale in the marketplace,

وما دام الأمر فيه احتمال أن يكون هذا من عمر ﵁ على سبيل التوقيف، أو على سبيل التقويم، فالأصل عدم الإلزام بهذا التقدير حتى يثبت أنه تشريع، وليس تقويماً، ثم إذا تنازلنا، نقول: نجري ما جاء به النص عن أمير المؤمنين ﵁، والباقي يكون حكومة، وقد فسرها المؤلف بقوله: وَمَا عَدَا ذلِكَ مِنَ الْجِرَاحِ وَكَسْرِ الْعِظَامِ فَفِيهِ حُكُومَةٌ، وَالْحُكُومَةُ: أَنْ يُقَوَّمَ الْمَجْنِيُّ عَلَيْهِ كَأَنَّهُ عَبْدٌ لَا جِنَايَةَ بِهِ، ثُمَّ يُقَوَّمَ وَهِيَ بِهِ قَدْ بَرِئَتْ، فَمَا نَقَصَ مِنَ الْقِيمَةِ فَلَهُ مِثْلُ نِسْبَتِهِ مِنَ الدِّيَةِ. «والحكومة: أن يُقوَّم المجني عليه كأنه عبد لا جناية به، ثم يقوم وهي به قد برئت، فما نقص من القيمة فله مثل نسبته من الدية» فقوله: «أن يقوَّم» أي: تقدَّر قيمته، ومصدر قَوَّمَ تقويم، وبهذا نعرف الخطأ الشائع عند الناس، يقولون: تقييم، مأخوذ من القيمة، فيقال لهم: أصل القيمة القيومة، ولكن حوِّلت «الواو» إلى «ياء» لعلة تصريفية، وعلى هذا نقول: مصدر قوَّم تقويم. وقوله: «لا جناية به» أي: أنه سليم، و «الباء» هنا بمعنى «في». وقوله: «ثم يقوم وهي به» الواو هنا للحال، والحال أن الجناية به، ولكن بشرط، وهو قوله: «قد برئت» وبهذا نعرف أن التقويم لا يكون إلا بعد البرء. وهل يلزم من هذا التقويم أن ننادي عليه في السوق،